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General Orders for Nauvoo Legion, 4 May 1841

Source Note

JS, General Orders, to , , Hancock Co., IL, 4 May 1841. Featured version published in “Nauvoo Legion,” Times and Seasons, 15 May 1841, vol. 2, no. 14, 417–418. For more complete source information, see the source note for Letter to Isaac Galland, 22 Mar. 1839.

Historical Introduction

In anticipation of the upcoming Independence Day celebration, JS, as lieutenant general of the , prepared general orders for the legion on 4 May 1841. Three months earlier, on 4 February 1841, the legion was officially organized during its first official meeting, or court-martial, in accordance with provisions in the city charter of , Illinois. At subsequent courts-martial, the legion specified penalties for failing to participate in parades and made plans for involvement in the upcoming Independence Day festivities. These general orders outlined the legion’s drilling, inspection, and decorum for the celebration and clarified the legion’s composition and its status as a militia unit.
Included with the orders was a 3 May letter from , a supreme court judge, affirming the legitimacy of the Nauvoo Legion as a state-recognized militia unit. Apparently some had objected to the formation of the Nauvoo Legion or questioned its legitimacy, and the arrival of Douglas in on 2 May 1841 provided an opportunity for the legion officers to confirm their right to serve in the legion as opposed to serving in the Fifty-Ninth Illinois regiment, the other militia unit in the area. Douglas’s 3 May letter was addressed to the legion’s major general, , and suggests Bennett asked Douglas about the matter during Douglas’s visit to Nauvoo. Douglas’s affirmative response on 3 May was a welcome endorsement from the state.
In addition to including ’s letter, the general orders further defended the legion’s status by citing a section in the militia law that allowed for independent companies. Citing the law supported Douglas’s assertion that the Nauvoo Legion was a valid way to fulfill the legal requirement of state-mandated military service for all males between the ages of 18 and 45. This meant the legion’s members were not only complying with the law, but they also had no obligation to obey officers or instructions from other regiments in the Illinois militia.
JS likely disseminated these general orders to the Nauvoo Legion by sending them to , the major general, as was standard practice. Copies would have then been sent by Bennett or his personal staff to other officers of the legion, who would share them with the men under their command. The orders were published in the 15 May issue of the newspaper the Times and Seasons; that is the only extant version of the orders.
JS’s orders and the statement from also clarified that the legion wanted all eligible male citizens—of any religious denomination—to enlist. Publishing orders in a newspaper was somewhat unusual, but doing so allowed the orders and the clarifying information found therein to reach a wider audience, including outsiders who were increasingly apprehensive about the Nauvoo Legion.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    See Historical Introduction to Minutes, 4 Feb. 1841.

  2. [2]

    “Record of the ‘Nauvoo Legion,’” 3–4, 5, Nauvoo Legion Records, CHL.

    Nauvoo Legion Records, 1841–1845. CHL. MS 3430.

  3. [3]

    Letter to Editors, 6 May 1841.

  4. [4]

    Douglas had previously executed the governor’s commission of the office of lieutenant general to JS. He eventually became a trusted advocate for JS and the Nauvoo citizens, and in December 1841, JS declared that Douglas was a “Master Spirit” to the Saints. (Commission from Thomas Carlin, 10 Mar. 1841; “State Gubernatorial Convention,” Times and Seasons, 1 Jan. 1842, 3:651, italics in original.)

    Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.

  5. [5]

    Some subsequent general orders for the legion were also published in the Times and Seasons. (See Times and Seasons, 1 June 1841, 2:435; 16 Aug. 1841, 2:517; 1 Jan. 1842, 3:654.)

    Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.

  6. [6]

    The editors of the Times and Seasons prefaced the general orders with the statement, “It has been rumored by our enemies, that, the Legion was got up for sinister and illegal purposes. This we deny. It is not confined to us as a people, but all citizens of the county have the privelege of, and are respectfully invited to unite with the same.” (Editorial, Times and Seasons, 15 May 1841, 2:416.)

    Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation.
*General Orders for Nauvoo Legion, 4 May 1841
History, 1838–1856, volume C-1 [2 November 1838–31 July 1842] “History of Joseph Smith”

Page 417

.
Head-Quarters, Nauvoo Legion,)
City of Ill. May 4, A. D. 1841)
GENERAL ORDERS.
Pursuant to an act of the Court Martial, the troops attached or belonging to the Legion, will parade at the place of general rendezvous, in the City of , for drill, review, and inspection, on Saturday, the 3rd day of July proximo. at half past 9 o’clock, A. M., armed and equipped according to law.
At 10 o’clock the line will be formed, and the general officers conducted to their posts, under a fire of artillery.
The commandants of the 1st and 2nd companies. 2nd Battallion, 1st Regiment, 2nd Cohort, are directed to enroll every man residing within the bounds of their respective commands, and not attached to any other company of the Legion, between the ages of 18 and 45 years, and notify them of their attachment to the service, and their legal liabilities.
As will be seen by the following legal opinion of , of the Supreme Court of the State of , than whom no man stands more deservedly high in the public estimation, as an able and profound jurist, politician, and statesman; the officers and privates, belonging to the Legion are exempt from all military duty not required by the legally constituted authorities thereof; they are therefore expressly inhibited from performing any military services not ordered by the general officers, or directed by the Court Martial.
City of , Ill.,)
May 3rd, A. D. 1841.)
:—
Dear Sir: In reply to your request, I have examined so much of the City Charter, and legislative acts, as relate to the “Nauvoo Legion,” and am clearly of opinion that “any citizen of who may attach himself to the ‘Nauvoo Legion’ has all the privileges which appertain to that independent military body,” and is “exempt from all other military duty,” as provided in the 25th section of the City-charter; and cannot, therefore, be fined by any military or civil court, for neglecting or refusing to parade with any other military body, or under the command of any officers who are not attached to said Legion. The language of the laws upon this subject is so plain and specific as to admit of no doubt as to its true meaning and intent. I do not consider it necessary, therefore, to enter into an argument to prove a position which is evident from an inspection of the laws themselves.
I am, very respectfully,
your friend,
.
The Legion is not, as has been falsely represented by its enemies, exclusively a Mormon military association, but a body of citizen-soldiers organized (without regard to political preferences or religious sentiments) for the public defence, the general good, and the preservation of law and order—to save the innocent, unoffending citizen from the iron grasp of the oppressor, and perpetuate and sustain our free institutions against misrule, anarchy, and mob [p. 417]
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Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
General Orders for Nauvoo Legion, 4 May 1841
ID #
643
Total Pages
2
Print Volume Location
JSP, D8:138–143
Handwriting on This Page
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Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Headquarters for the Nauvoo Legion was likely the office of JS, as his office had served as the meeting place of the legion’s first court-martial. (Minutes, 4 Feb. 1841.)

  2. [2]

    See “Record of the ‘Nauvoo Legion,’” 5, Nauvoo Legion Records, CHL.

    Nauvoo Legion Records, 1841–1845. CHL. MS 3430.

  3. [3]

    The place of rendezvous was likely the city center, near the temple construction site, where the first parade for the cornerstone ceremony took place. (See “Celebration of the Aniversary of the Church,” Times and Seasons, 15 Apr. 1841, 2:375.)

    Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.

  4. [4]

    This parade, scheduled for Saturday, 3 July 1841, was apparently intended as an Independence Day celebration because 4 July 1841 fell on a Sunday, which Latter-day Saints observed as the Sabbath.

  5. [5]

    Congress provided for “organizing, arming, and disciplining” militias. States, however, had the constitutional responsibility for prescribing discipline and enforcing compliance. As part of the Illinois militia, therefore, the Nauvoo Legion could require its members to appear on parade days. (U.S. Constitution, art. 1, sec. 8; Act to Incorporate the City of Nauvoo, 16 Dec. 1840; “Record of the ‘Nauvoo Legion,’” 3–4, Nauvoo Legion Records, CHL.)

    Nauvoo Legion Records, 1841–1845. CHL. MS 3430.

  6. [6]

    Stephen A. Douglas was appointed to the state supreme court in mid-February 1841. He had previously served as the Illinois secretary of state. (See Commission from Thomas Carlin, 10 March 1841.)

  7. [7]

    See Act to Incorporate the City of Nauvoo, 16 Dec. 1840.

  8. [8]

    Criticism of the Nauvoo Legion came primarily from Thomas Sharp, the editor of the Warsaw Signal. In February, Sharp acknowledged that “any citizen of Hancock County may, by voluntary enrollment, attach himself to the Legion,” but his dispassionate tone and inclusive view of the legion later shifted. By June, Sharp wrote, “Ask yourselves what means this array of military force which is paraded under the direction of this church. Is an army necessary to propagate religion?” (“The Mormons,” Western World [Warsaw, IL], 24 Feb. 1841, [2]; [Thomas Sharp], “The Mormons,” Warsaw [IL] Signal, 9 June 1841, [2].)

    Warsaw Signal. Warsaw, IL. 1841–1853.

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